And then the WWII Ranger told them, “Get your asses in the water!” And no class in history was ever so happy to have the chance to do so. It was such an honor to be in Normandy for the 75th. Listening to the Veterans’ stories and just taking it all in was a lot. It’s gonna take a long time, maybe even a lifetime, for the magnitude of this pilgrimage to fully sink in.

There’s an element of honoring the sacrifices that went on here, by experiencing a little bit of it yourself. This is meant to capture the spirit of that.

Suspend disbelief for just a minute, you transport yourself back in time a little bit. I mean, these are the same beaches, ya know? Just find a little bit extra. The motivation is not hard to come by here. It’s just not.

What struck me more than anything else about Utah Beach was how long and vast it is, how much ground our soldiers had to cover. The water is freezing, they had all thrown their breakfasts up on the boats from England due to the choppy seas (and rich British mess hall food), and then they had to ruck run and low crawl toward the enemy machine guns firing at them and their buddies.

They fought the wars differently back then because they had to, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to step on this hallowed ground this morning.

My imagination of their situation 75 years ago has run wild and yet all I can really express is eternal gratitude to that generation that braved so much, and sacrificed even more.

If you ever have the opportunity to come to Normandy, do it. If you don’t, save up and make the opportunity. It’s life changing here, on these sands.